


New Beginnings & Second Chances

by maderi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (minor role) - Freeform, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, First Dates, First Kiss, First Love, First Time, Kolivan is kind, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Protective Keith (Voltron), Recovery, Second Chances, Sendak Failing at Courting, Sendak is so Enamored, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23889286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maderi/pseuds/maderi
Summary: When Shiro had ejected him out of the castle airlock, Sendak had secretly been certain of his demise. He had not expected Haggard to find him and turn him into one of her mutant weapons of war, the same way he hadn't expect the black paladin to let him live or Kolivan to help heal him afterward.Least of all had he expected Shiro's kindness to give him a second chance at life.- A story of hope, love, and new beginnings.
Relationships: Sendak/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37
Collections: Shendak Spring Fling





	New Beginnings & Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [purpletophat (flyingluminaries)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingluminaries/gifts).



> This is my Shendak Central Spring Fling exchange piece for Purpletophat! I have no idea if I'm even remotely inside anything you asked for, but I hope you'll enjoy this little thing nonetheless :-) 
> 
> Voltron time translations:
> 
> Tick = 1.399 seconds  
> Dobosh = 1.4 minutes (84 seconds)  
> 60 ticks equal 1 dobosh  
> Varga = 1.4 hours (84 minutes)  
> 60 doboshes equal 1 varga  
> Quintant = 1.167 days (28 hours)  
> 20 vargas equal 1 quintant  
> Movement = Approximately 1 week  
> (exact equivalent hasn't been specified)  
> Phoeb = Approximately 1 month  
> (exact equivalent hasn't been specified)  
> Deca-Phoeb = Approximately 1 year  
> (exact equivalent hasn't been specified)

Sendak had never been an expert in Galran courtship, in fact, he’d failed quite spectacularly at it. There always seemed to be something lacking or something too extreme in what he did, driving potential partners away and Sendak to eventually give up. Human courtship, on the other hand, seemed to be something he failed even harder at. 

Had it not been for the fact that the person of his affections was somewhat of a master of patience and the fact that despite everything that had ever happened between them, he liked Sendak just a little bit, Sendak doubts he would have even gotten as far holding Shiro’s hand. 

Looking back on everything, Sendak couldn’t quite believe his luck. It had been rough after Haggard found him stranded on a distant planet, the torture she had made him undergo, even after everything he had done to further her husband’s cause, even after his loyalty had been tested time and time again, had worn him down. In the end, none of that had mattered though. 

Beaten and quintessence crazed, Kolivan had picked him up from the battlefield, had found worth in what little remained of who he once was, had found it in him to heal what was left off Sendak. The result had not been pretty. Mangled and starved, Sendak had lost most of his mass while stranded on the planet. His once magnificent iris and mauve fur and mane had deflated and died, bald patches splattered all over his body. When Haggard’s suit had been fitted over him, infused with quintessence, it had sent him even more over the edge with madness. 

It had been a long and slow progress healing from all the years of trauma. Confusion and pain at the forefront, making his progress feel even slower. Confusion over why the original red paladin had let him live, confusion over why Kolivan had decided to heal him, and in the end, pain, unlike anything he had experienced in his long, long life, his body desperately trying to heal. Confusion had set in even harder when a few phoebs after the healing pod had released him, Shiro, the very human he had attempted to murder, walked into the room he was doing physical therapy in. 

Shiro had just stood there staring at him for a long time while Yorek, one of the Blade’s physical therapists forced him to work harder. Of course, the spectacle had been beyond humiliating as Sendak’s concentration had been on Shiro and not the fact that his once powerful legs didn’t work quite right anymore, the long limbs weak as a newborn yupper. When a varga or so later, Sendak had finished, the human in question was nowhere to be seen. 

It had haunted his mind throughout the rest of his quintant until Shiro once more walked into his physical therapy session the very next quintant, and the one after that again, never saying anything up until several phoebs later when suddenly, Shiro took over for Yorek. 

“How is your body healing?” Shiro starts, eyes focused on where Sendak stands in a parallel bar, legs no longer weak, but still somewhat unsteady. 

He must have looked like a spectral ray where he stood staring at Shiro, gaping as if that would make everything clearer. Shiro looked at him...not unkindly but somewhat suspicious, given their past though, Sendak would have to give him that. There was something in those deep gray eyes though, something that spoke to him in the deepest of ways, something that confused his already messy mind. What exactly was the black paladin doing here?

When Sendak hadn’t replied but kept looking at Shiro like a spectral ray, the former champion had simply moved on, instructing him on how to do his next exercises. The tension in the room was thick enough to disturb most of the other patients, forcing Sendak’s session to be moved to another, much smaller room. 

Alone with Shiro, Sendak felt like a kit, vulnerable and caged. To his surprise, the human picked up on his unease, sitting down in a corner while pretending that nothing had changed. Strict, short commands snapped Sendak out of his own mind eventually, Shiro guiding him through this and that, forcing Sendak to use his whole body. By the end of the training, Sendak felt more like himself than he had done in many, many deca-phoebs. 

As time went by, the relationship between them changed somehow. Shiro would strike up conversations to which Sendak would grunt or hum out affirmative or negative replies, not really knowing how to voice his thoughts to Shiro’s questions or silly information. He had always been quite talkative, even while undergoing his original training beside Zarkon. Curiosity would be the death of him, the emperor had teased while playfully attacking the younger soldier. With time, that too had been trained out of him. 

It was many phoebs later, almost at the end of his physical training, when Sendak had finally opened his mouth to speak. His voice had been rough with unuse, the sensation something in the likes of what Sendak thought swallowing broken scaultrite must feel like. Although Shiro had been taken aback at the sound, the human had simply just smiled and continued to talk as if nothing had happened. 

If Sendak prided himself in verbally replying to a few topics, well, that was no one’s business but his own. 

Phoebs bled into a full deca-phoeb, with which came Kolivan’s price for his rescue. Restored to his former glory, sans a less deadly arm and a functioning eye, Kolivan encouraged him to help with the fight against the few Galra battlefleets still opposing the result of the war. It was how Sendak once more found himself a Commander. This time, under one Admiral Takashi Shirogane. 

-

As unease had grown to comfort between Shiro and Sendak, their fragile relationship soon moved from enemies to friends during their missions. Vargas upon vargas, for phoebs on end, Shiro and Sendak would be stuck in a room with Kolivan and the rest of the paladins, discussing tactics and finding new battlefleets. Sendak had found that betraying his secrets hadn’t burned as badly as he first had though. The Blades of Marmora had given him his life back, had given him a chance to live a life outside of constant war and conquering. 

In the end, it was an opportunity Sendak couldn’t turn down. 

There were a lot of things Sendak had given up on when becoming a soldier under Zarkon’s reign. A normal life, friendships, a family... As old and damaged as Sendak was now, he doubted he would ever find a family or a mate with their own kits, willing to include him. It was a loss he mourned for a while until Shiro picked up on it and relayed his own thoughts and worries. 

Turned out, they had more in common than either one had ever thought. It lay the ground for friendship, unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Tormentor and tormented, master and slave, enemies of war. There were too many labels to describe their past and even though they hadn’t touched upon the big elephant in the room, as the humans said, they made it work, both knowing that one day, they would have to open those wounds and bleed.  
In the meantime, they had depended on each other. Shiro had infiltrated Sendak’s stone-cold heart without him noticing, paving way for feelings Sendak had never experienced before in his long life. When ashamed and scared, Sendak had pulled away from Shiro, the human had hunted him down like pray and demanded an explanation. Their first argument as friends had happened that night, leaving the two of them raw and hurting.

As used to pain and suffering as Sendak was, he had not been prepared for emotional pain. The following movement, the two had danced around each other, casting longing glances while the other looked another way. It got to the point where the black paladin stepped in to keep Shiro away from him. 

In the end, Kolivan had pulled him aside after a briefing one night and given him a little earth square with many layers. On them, had been a picture story of how to court and care for humans, the text reading ‘Dating 101 for Dummies’ whatever that meant. Cryptically, Kolivan had explained to him how humans worked differently than Galra, how emotions played a different role in their society, and how important frankness was in interspecies relationships. It had taken Sendak way longer than he cared to admit to understand what Kolivan had been talking about. 

Sendak was by no means dense to his own feelings. He knew he enjoyed Shiro’s company, enjoyed his weird human features, the sound of his voice, the way he... Sendak liked Shiro. To admit this to the human in question was another thing though. The black paladin was always close now, scowling angrily at Sendak as the movement came to an end. 

Shiro, kind and warm Shiro looked sad, even though he smiled and laughed with everyone he met. Sendak decided that he didn’t like it. Through all the time he had known Shiro, never once had the smaller man showed anything but the absolute truth in his features. When the last varga of the movement came to an end, Sendak swallowed his pride and squared his shoulders as he moved towards Shiro’s quarters. He needed to rectify this. 

Waiting until the Black paladin left Shiro’s quarters, Sendak waited for a dobosh or two before knocking on Shiro’s door, stepping back so as to not loom over the smaller man. 

“Did you forget something, Kei...-” Shiro started, breaking off at the end at the sight of Sendak. 

He looked tired and pale, more so than Sendak could remember he was earlier that quintant. Intelligent grey eyes narrowed as Shiro crossed his arms over his chest, a defensive human move, Sendak now knew. Shiro was either feeling threatened or angry, maybe both. 

“What do you want, Sendak? It’s late,” Shiro grounds out, by the looks of it, surprisingly harsher than he had intended.

“Could we talk?” Sendak asks softly, pinning his ears submissively back. 

“It’s late, can’t this wait?”

“It will only take but a moment,” He pleads hopefully, fully intending to turn back to his own quarters when Shiro turned him down. To his surprise though, Shiro uncrosses his arms and sighs deeply before stepping aside, motioning for Sendak to enter. 

Shiro’s living quarters are cozy compared to his own. The walls have a multitude of pictures of his friends and their families, big smiles looking down on anyone who visited. He had soft-looking pillows and one of those amazingly heavy blankets on his couch. The room smelled of something deliciously meaty, a pair of dirty dishes in the sink indicating that Shiro and the black paladin had been having dinner. 

“What did you want, Sendak?” Shiro interrupts Sendak’s careful observations suddenly. 

“I have become aware of the fact that what I said to you last movement was unacceptable and hurtful. I would like to apologize.” Sendak executed flawlessly, just as he had practiced in his bathroom mirror. 

“You were an asshole.” Shiro butts in, seemingly unimpressed by Sendak’s ballade like apology. 

“I was not feeling myself when you came upon me,” Sendak counters, feeling proud of himself before abruptly realizing that his reply would lead to questions, questions he did not know how to address.

“And how exactly were you feeling?" Shiro shoots back, cheeks now pink with anger as he re-crosses his arms. 

"I was... The feeling I... -" But the words don't come, no matter how many versions he tries. In the end, he sighs deeply and hangs his head. 

"Listen," Shiro starts as he pinches the bridge of his nose. "I know this whole feelings thing is new to you, I understand that - I get it, but you can't ju...-"

"I was scared." Sendak all but whispers. It seems to be the right way to go. When Shiro softens up. 

"You were scared?" Shiro asks, those deep gray eyes looking at Sendak as if his fur had caught fire. 

Nodding, Sendak didn’t dare lift his eye to stare directly at Shiro. That he felt uncomfortable at that moment was the understatement of the deca-phoeb. He had felt less vulnerable facing opponents many times his considerable size, but there had always been something about Shiro that had made Sendak feel small. 

“What were the feelings that had you so scared the only option you saw was to lash out?” Shiro eventually asked after a few doboshes of silence. 

And of course, Shiro would figure out the right question to ask. It had been naive of Sendak to think otherwise. Shiro had never been anything but perceptive, the proof hanging in the air between them that moment. Sighing deeply once more, Sendak had no other choice but to give in to his fears. He had come too long to lose progress now. 

“My feelings for you...-” The admission is almost inaudible, but of course, Shiro heard it. 

Silence stretches between them once more as Shiro takes in the meaning of the words. Suddenly painfully shy and nervous, ears still pinned back, Sendak bows his head, waiting for the rejection that would no doubt come once Shiro got the chance to collect his thoughts.

“Are those romantic feelings?” Shiro asks carefully, making Sendak snort with indignancy. “Right, right, sorry. I see...-”

And then it becomes painfully quiet again. Sendak’s natural curiosity finally gets the better of him and he eventually lifts his head to stare at Shiro while he thinks. He doesn’t expect to see gray eyes staring back at him, the angry blush across his cheeks darker in a new display of emotions. There’s even a small smile on Shiro’s lips. 

“Hey,” Shiro greets, making Sendak’s ears move of their own will. Happiness, hope, curiosity, fear, timidness, all the emotions make his ears rotate back and forth, up and down before he winces, unknowingly making Shiro smile fonder. 

“Thank you for telling me. That took a lot of courage, Sendak.” Shiro moves slowly towards him, coming to a stop right before his feet as he looks up. 

“I am courageous.” Sendak huffs, squaring his shoulders and the puff of arrogance makes Shiro chuckle softly.

“Sit down?” Shiro asks, and as Sendak takes in his surroundings, he notices that Shiro, without him knowing it, has moved them over to the couch. 

“How long have you felt this way?”

How long had he felt this way for Shiro? If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t have an answer to that question, he’d just realized one quintant that Shiro was his ideal mate, the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The realization had completely crumbled him. Shrugging, Sendak grunted his reply instead. 

“Back to non-verbal replies?” Shiro teases and Sendak’s ears flicker quickly in annoyance at the teasing. “Okay, I’ve made it through this mood of yours before.”

Leaning forward, Shiro’s hand cups the fluff of his cheek, gently pulling Sendak’s massive head to face him. Stretching his neck to escape the hand, Sendak tries half-heartedly, not surprised when Shiro doesn’t give up. Eventually, that soft, smooth-skinned hand manages to lure Sendak to look at him. Ears pinned down submissively, Sendak dares to look into Shiro’s eyes, surprised at the warmth he finds there. 

“Thank you,” Shiro smiles, leaning his forehead to Sendak’s own before he closes his eyes. 

It is an incredibly intimate thing to do, Sendak thinks as he shares his first genuine kiss with someone. In the back of his mind, he knows that this isn’t considered kissing in the human world, but he entertains the illusion for a few more ticks. 

That is probably why he’s so unprepared for the soft lips that land on his moments later. Shiro’s hand is back on the fluff of his jaw as he gently moves his lips in what is the human way to kiss. Unexperienced in the custom, outside to informational square Kolivan gifted him, Sendak remains submissive and pliable to Shiro’s ministrations. 

The touch feels so good, making Sendak purr with happiness as the kissing continues. He almost whines pitifully when Shiro breaks the kiss and leans his forehead to Sendak’s again. With his head spinning from all the different sensations, Sendak is unaware of the sawing thunder he’s emitting. 

“I have feelings for you too, Sendak,” Shiro smiles as he rubs his forehead to Sendak’s, his hand moving to gently pet behind his fluffy ear, the scratching sound loud, but delicious against his fur. He’s almost so far gone that the words don’t register at first. 

He’s huge compared to Shiro. Tall, broad, muscles and massive, but right now, Sendak feels so small. He’s easily manipulated down on the couch, Shiro so careful with him, even though he could take more damage than Shiro himself and still be fine. 

The way Shiro carefully handles him as he lays down beside him, is more than he could take. Sendak isn’t quite sure when it started, but his entire body is seeking Shiro’s warmth and strong arms. They just lay there, holding each other for vargas until they both fall asleep. It was the beginning of yet another new for Sendak, one he thought he couldn’t live without now that he’d had a taste. 

-

It’s a phew phoebs later when Sendak comes to the troubling realization that he had failed to court Shiro. In Galran courtship, the courting itself was nearly the most important part of mating. Seeing as Sendak had had little luck with Galran courting, he wasn’t surprised as much as horrified that he had failed in human courtship too. 

After voicing his worries to Shiro, the smaller man had grinned ruefully up at him and challenegedSendak to ‘do his worst’, whatever that meant. It leads him to where he was today, naked in Shiro’s bed, his first mate purring weirdly as he does while asleep, beside him. Just how he had failed so spectacularly was beyond him, but as the doboshes went by, the uneasiness in his mind settled when Shiro, in his sleep, pulled Sendak closer to him. 

Shiro’s body was peppered with purple dots and unavoidable claw nicks. Smiling softly, Shiro’s humanly massive arm lay heavy over Sendak’s furred torso, the palm spread protectively over the small of his back, right above his little tail. It was comforting, even though Sendak as way too large to be cradled, Shiro seemed to manage just fine. Sighing deeply, Sendak let his eyes drift shut. 

“Why does my mate sigh as if the world is ending?” Shiro mumbles into Sendak’s heavily furred chest, the warm breath spreading like water. 

“Screwed up. Again.” Sendak mumbles, making Shiro lean back to look up at him. 

“How so?” He quirks an eyebrow at Sendak, seemingly nonimpressed. 

“Failed at courting rituals again.” That got Shiro’s attention enough to rise up on his elbow, the heavenly head disappearing from Sendak’s body as Shiro looked at him with a worried expression. 

“Sendak?” Shiro asks softly, hand coming up to cup Sendak’s cheek in his smaller hand. “Please look at me, Sendak,” 

He’s embarrassed when he finally does look up at Shiro again. 

“Was this not what you wanted?” The question takes him by such a surprise that he’s rendered speechless, completely helpless to watch as panic spreads through Shiro’s eyes. 

“Y-yes,” He manages to squeak out, heart hammering in his chest like a kitling, something he very much feels like before he remembers who he is and what he’s been through. 

“Yes, Shiro. Mating you were everything I wanted, everything I hoped to get a chance at. But I did the courting all wrong and now I realize that I might not be desirable to you as a mate.” He explains with more bravado. 

“You’re kiddi...- Sendak, sweetie -” Shiro laughs fondly when Sendak wrinkles his nose at the pet name, “Okay, we’ll work on that one.” He adds, smiling ruefully. 

“But Sendak, courtship success or not, you are who I want to share my life with. That won’t change because of traditional customs. I’m not confident I understand every aspect of a Gakran courtship, but I know it’s quite important to you, so if you want to do that, I’m good.” Shiro throws the ball into Sendak’s court and hope blooms in his chest once more. 

“I have a choice?” Sendak asks almost dumbly. 

“Of course, you do. I don’t need all that fancy stuff, you already caught me, big guy.” Shiro winks before he leans forward to first rest their foreheads together and then kissing Sendak on his lips. 

It was adorable how Shiro mixed their traditions together to something that was entirely theirs. It made something inside Sendak explode with a multitude of feelings, the biggest and brightest of them; love. 

“I’d like to stop the courting then. I’ve never been very good at it...” Sendak admits into their little intimate bubble, feeling Shiro smile softly against his lips. 

“I know, it’s alright though. I know how you feel about me.” Shiro whispers happily. “And for your information, I love you too, Sendak.” 

Had Sendak been the kind of man to cry of emotional happiness, he would have at that moment. The fur that landed in his eye was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with how his head spun and how his heart beat like a drum at those words. It was a good thing that Shiro decided to pull him down into a warm hug, conveniently tucking his face under Shiro’s jaw, the warm furless skin dampening softly as Shiro held him close. 

This second chance at life and happiness wasn’t as farfetched as he first had thought it to be and with Shiro by his side, he thought that maybe, just maybe, he would be alright for the first time in his long, long life. 

~ The End

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
